Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/334

Rh 314 GUNNERY being run back by hand. Loading at the breech will, however, be perfectly simple. In this case the breech-loader gains a very decided advantage over the muzzle-loader, since not only does it not require to be run back, but it has to be run up merely a very short distance. To this the advocate of muzzle-loading will probably reply that shells are lobbed with low velocities into works only at considerable intervals of time, that rapidity is therefore of no use, and that the advantage claimed is worthless. No doubt there is truth in this argument, but suppose the action of reduced charges on the gun to be imitated by the introduction of a brake which shall check the recoil within a short space, even when the gun is firing rapidly with high velocity, then the breech-loadar behind entrenchments gains a distinct advantage. The German guns are supplied with powerful but clumsy brakes, more for travelling purposes than for firing, and it is doubtful how far they answer for the latter object. In the British service it has not been thought im portant to check recoil, since a certain amount of it has been necessary for loading behind parapets ; but trials have been made of brakes, &c., for the purpose of preventing guns from running backwards down a reverse slope when fired from the crest of a hill, or, more generally, for check ing excessive recoil. Up to the present time (1879) no great success has attended these efforts, nor does it appear feasible to abolish recoil altogether by sinking the wheels in a ditch, since the strain on the carriage would then be much increased. There is no doubt the question offers grave difficulties, especially as lightness is such an important feature in the construction of field gun carriages. As yet, then, the reduction or checking of recoil behind a parapet confers but a problematical superiority on breech-loaders, and cannot be held to counterbalance the advantage gained by muzzle-loaders in the open. (/.) In the older pattern guns of both systems, where studs and windage were pitted against lead coating and no windage, the muzzle-loading projectile was able to take a better time-fuze than could be used in the breech-loader, but it did not possess the same accuracy of shooting. Since the introduction of the poly- groove system, in which rotation is given and windage sealed by a copper-flanged ring or disc at the base of the shell, the muzzle-loading projectile has lost the advantage of being able to use the simpler time-fuze, but has gained in several important respects. The breech-loading shell has also been improved by the substitution of two copper wires for the lead coating, but is probably inferior to the new muzzle-loading projectile, which, however, can be used equally well for breech-loaders. It may be said therefore that the systems are equal in respect to efficiency of pro jectile. Thus then, taking the six qualities named as chief ex cellences to bs sought for in field artillery, it appears that in four of them there is practically little or&quot; no advantage gained by either system over the other, while, in the two remaining qualities, the muzzle-loader has slightly the best of it. On the whole it seems therefore that, at the present moment, the balance of evidence is in favour of muzzle-loading for field guns. or siege In comparing the advantages of the rival methods of ur - loading siege guns, the entirely different character of the ses&amp;lt; two classes of pieces composing a train at once forces itself on the attention. One class consists of long guns, project ing far over a parapet, and usually fired at low elevations with heavy charges ; the other of short guns, usually fired at high elevations with low charges, the muzzles on recoil coming well within the emplacement. The Germans use long and short 15-centimetre guns, both breech-loaders, and both throwing shell of the same weight. The long gun, fired with heavy charges, weighs three times as much ag the short gun, which is fired with light charges. Supposing the dimensions of the short gun were increased, the propor tions remaining unchanged, till its weight equalled that of the long gun, then it would be able to fire shell of three times the weight. This is what is actually being done in the British service. Now all these heavy pieces, firing either heavy powder charges or heavy shell, require very strong and consequently very heavy carriages to bear the recoil, and it is found convenient to transport the guns on com paratively light platform waggons apart from their firing carriages. Hence there is no longer any necessity for con structing firing carriages with a view to travelling purposes ; and it is probable that traversing slides will be introduced for all heavy siege pieces. It is not requisite to institute at length a comparison of the various qualities desired for siege guns. Rapidity is very rarely of importance with them ; they are always fired under cover, and it may be at once assumed that, as far as power and endurance go, the two systems are practically equal. A fresh set of condi tions comes into play : the projectiles are heavy ; and con venience of loading, combined with safety to the gunners from the enemy s fire, should now be considered. As these points are connected with the form of carriage employed, it was necessary to call to mind in comparing breecli with muzzle loading, that slides are likely to take the place of travelling carriages. When long guns are fired, in order to permit loading at the muzzle, it is requisite that the recoil should be great, and the emplacement deep. Many devices, such as flexible rope rammers, jointed staves, &c., have been tried, but have not proved perfectly successful in over coming this difficulty. Breech-loading here has a consider able advantage. Long guns are fired at low angles of eleva tion, and no difficulty therefore is experienced in thrusting the projectile home from behind in a nearly horizontal bore. High velocity is required, and the breech-loading system lends itself readily to enlargement of the powder chamber, without necessitating the complications of an expanding cartridge. If slides are used the hydraulic buffer checks the recoil at once ; on the other hand, the parapet affords rather better protection to men standing close to it at the muzzle than to men standing a little way off at the breech. These conditions are reversed with the short pieces. The rammer is short, and no great recoil is necessary to permit loading at the muzzle. The elevation is high, and it is much easier to drop a shell in from the front than to thrust it up from behind. Indeed this cannot usually be clone, and a breech-loader has to be brought nearly horizontal for loading. High velocity is never required, and enlargement of powder chamber is not wanted. The men are in the most sheltered position at the muzzle. If these views be admitted as correct, it seems clear that the long pieces of a siege train should be breech-loaders, and the short ones muz/le-loaders. To this it may be objected that uniformity would be sacrificed by such a combination. There is not much in this objection. The mere fact of two guns being loaded in different ways is surely of little consequence, and can easily be grasped by the dullest gunner. It is done every practice day on board ship, where the old pattern Armstrong vent-piece breech-loaders are combined with modern muzzle-loaders. As regards the stores, a long and a short gun of the same weight would not under any circumstances fire the same ammunition, and even in cases where a heavy long gun is associated with a light short one having the same diameter of bore, as in the case of the German 15-centimetre pieces, there is no reason why the same projectile should not be used for both if desired ; that is, the new smooth muzzle-loading shell, with a gas- check on the base, would answer for both. The question of brsech-loading or muzzle-loading is obviously not only complicated, but is liable to alteration in its conditions with every advance made in the science of